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christened it their place to be

I would appreciate if someone could rephrase the phrase "christened it their place to be" in the excerpt below, especially the word christen.

"It was the kind of nightclub that existed only once every decade—at a point in the social nexus when the gods of publicity, fashion, and celebrity converged to create a singularly spectacular environment. Following in the hallowed tradition of mid-'70s Studio 54, late-'80s Palladium, and early-'90sMoomba , Block 122 had entered an iconic realm that defined a movement, a lifestyle, a generation. A cocktail-combo clientele of the city's
most beautiful, envied, notorious, and all-powerful citizens had christened it their place to be."

Re: christened it their place to be

Wouldn't simply: 'christened it their place' suffice? If you wanted to change christen, you might say 'called it their place', 'deemed it their place', 'labelled it their place', etc.

The word "christened" isn't used in this way in my native language, so it's difficult to translate the phrase without losing its specific meaning. However, the phrase "labelled it their place" would be much easier to translate correctly, and therefore, as you say, suffice ...

Re: christened it their place to be

Originally Posted by Caorthine

The word "christened" isn't used in this way in my native language, so it's difficult to translate the phrase without losing its specific meaning. However, the phrase "labelled it their place" would be much easier to translate correctly, and therefore, as you say, suffice ...

Re: christened it their place to be

Originally Posted by Anglika

How about "decided it was the place to be"?

Decided could work as well. However, the overall meaning here, I think, has to do with what's really, really "in" at that particular moment, and that the "in crowd" thinks that to be, well, really, really "in" (which of course is really, really important ) this is the place to be. Maybe nobody really decides what is "in" or what is "out", and in the beginning, perhaps the "in crowd", because they surely can't imagine themselves being somewhere that is not "in", made the place "in" by not wanting to be "out", i.e. no real decision was made to make the place "in", like a plant growing from a seed. Too philosophical ? Well, perhaps .

Re: christened it their place to be

Originally Posted by Caorthine

Decided could work as well. However, the overall meaning here, I think, has to do with what's really, really "in" at that particular moment, and that the "in crowd" thinks that to be, well, really, really "in" (which of course is really, really important ) this is the place to be. Maybe nobody really decides what is "in" or what is "out", and in the beginning, perhaps the "in crowd", because they surely can't imagine themselves being somewhere that is not "in", made the place "in" by not wanting to be "out", i.e. no real decision was made to make the place "in", like a plant growing from a seed. Too philosophical ? Well, perhaps .

Re: christened it their place to be

Originally Posted by Caorthine

Decided could work as well. However, the overall meaning here, I think, has to do with what's really, really "in" at that particular moment, and that the "in crowd" thinks that to be, well, really, really "in" (which of course is really, really important ) this is the place to be. Maybe nobody really decides what is "in" or what is "out", and in the beginning, perhaps the "in crowd", because they surely can't imagine themselves being somewhere that is not "in", made the place "in" by not wanting to be "out", i.e. no real decision was made to make the place "in", like a plant growing from a seed. Too philosophical ? Well, perhaps .

(And no, rj1948, desired is not the right word.)

I think what Anglika meant was that they decided for themselves that it was the place to be, not that they decided that for other people.